CASE STUDY : BEST PLUMBERS IN TOWN PTY LTD – Management Strategies

CASE STUDY : BEST PLUMBERS IN TOWN PTY LTD

Julie Bandstand is a manager at Best Plumbers in Town Pty Ltd which employs fifteen plumbers. Best Plumbers in Town has been operating in Brisbane since 1990 and provides plumbing services to builders and other businesses.

Julie looks after the business with the help of her team of plumbers and three support staff who look after other functions. She has a trade license and has worked for more than fifteen years in the business. She has been with Best Plumbers in Town for the past two years and in that time business has been steady with no major improvement in sales. She feels under pressure to improve the overall performance of the business, but has many issues to handle on a daily basis.

The performance of the plumbers has not been up to her expectations. New jobs are booked and allocated to the plumbers by the support staff working with Julie. The work schedule, prepared by the support staff, is given to the plumbers in the morning when they report to work before going to the client’s premises. Any changes sought by the plumbers are generally not entertained by Julie. The job’s progress is recorded and the plumbers are briefed and given the materials and tools required to perform the job. This system takes time and many employees have voiced their opinion that it would be better to go directly to the job site. Julie disagrees, as she likes to talk to and motivate the plumbers every day. Julie would like to address this issue but believes that management may not support any change suggested by her.

Julie also finds it difficult to roster the staff leave entitlements.She has been directed by senior management to ensure that all staff take their holidays around Christmas when the business is closed for three weeks. There is high absenteeism as leave taken at any other time is considered by management to be against the interest of the business.